For the third straight year, quarterback Keenan Reynolds was the focal point of Navy's annual Media Day.

Reynolds was on the podium for the formal press conference portion of the event and was asked more questions than the other three players combined. Nose guard Bernie Sarra, offensive guard E.K. Binns and defensive end Will Anthony even found themselves being asked questions about Reynolds.

Most of the media in attendance wanted to talk about the record-setting career Reynolds has enjoyed so far and how he can put a cherry on top with a strong senior season.

However, the reality is that Reynolds plays a prominent role in two of the three primary issues the coaching staff has made a priority going into preseason camp. Head coach Ken Niumatalolo stated that Navy needs to reduce its turnovers, become more efficient throwing the football and find a way to get more aggressive on defense.

"Getting better in those three areas are three of our main goals for this season," he said.

On the surface, Navy had another successful season in 2014 – going 8-5 with a 13th consecutive victory over archrival Army and defeating San Diego State in the Poinsettia Bowl. However, coaches and players know it could have been a whole lot better had the Midshipmen not suffered three straight losses from Sept. 20 through Oct. 4. That dismal stretch featured a slew of uncharacteristic mistakes and culminated in a 30-21 defeat at Air Force that cost Navy the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy.

Reynolds had taken a helmet to the knee toward the end of a 31-24 win at Temple on Sept. 6 and was forced to sit out the following weekend's game at Texas State. However, Reynolds returned against Rutgers on Sept. 20, but clearly was not himself during the subsequent three-game losing streak.

A step slow and a bit unsure of himself, Reynolds struggled running and throwing the ball while also having a hand in numerous turnovers.

Navy had its worst season in recent memory in the turnover department, committing a total of 22 to rank 67th nationally in that category. In 2013, the Midshipmen ranked 12th with just 10 turnovers.

Opponents scored 73 points off Navy's 22 turnovers with three fumbles and an interception being returned directly for touchdowns. That proved critical considering the Mids lost four games by an average of just under nine points.

"We truly believe that if we take care of the football we win two or three more games last season," Jasper said. "That's something we pride ourselves on. To do such a poor job in an area that is so important to this program was embarrassing."

Most disturbing was that 17 of the turnovers were the result of fumbles – an absolute no-no in Navy's triple-option. Reynolds was directly responsible for losing seven fumbles and could have been credited with a couple others due to bad pitchouts.

"A lot of it falls on me. I'd say about 80 percent of the stuff was my fault," Reynolds said following Thursday's first practice of preseason. "I've got to be more detailed in my steps, more sure in my decisions. There were a few times when I hesitated and that split-second was the reason for a fumble. That's something I'm working to improve: No balls on the ground from my end."

Jasper unveiled a power point presentation for Navy's first offensive meeting of the season on Thursday afternoon. It contained video of every single turnover from 2014 with analysis of how they happened.

"I thought Coach Jasper and the offensive staff did a great thing to start off. That (turnovers) was the focus of their very first meeting. We broke down all of our fumbles," Niumatalolo said. "Some were contact fumbles, some occurred because we had a missed assignment. Some were bad pitches, bad decisions. Others were on center-quarterback exchanges. Whatever the reasons, we have to address all of them."

Reynolds admitted the video was painful to watch, particularly for him personally.

"We watched the film of all the fumbles before we came out here today. It was pretty bad. If you only saw that you would have thought we finished 2-10. It just looked terrible," he said. "If we want to be successful this season we need to do what we did in 2013 when we had 10 total turnovers. That's what we need to win the games we want to win and have the season we want to have."

Both Reynolds and Navy dramatically reduced the number of turnovers in the second half of the season after the quarterback took two weeks off to fully recover from the knee injury. The Tennessee native looked like his old self as the Midshipmen closed the campaign by winning six of their last seven games.

"I don't like to make excuses so I'm just going to go with the fact I didn't do what I need to do," Reynolds said when asked if the injury was to blame for his fumbles and interceptions.

Navy works on protecting the football during the first period of every practice. Jasper said quarterbacks, fullbacks and slotbacks go through a "ball security circuit" consisting of three stations designed to teach them how to hold onto the football in all situations.

"It's something we have always stressed, but after what happened last year we need to have more of a sense of urgency this camp," Jasper said. "We have to remind the guys about just how important it is. You have to take care of the football in order to have a chance to win games. It's something we'll continue to harp on, continue to coach and hopefully we'll prevent it from happening again this season."

Navy does not throw the ball very often, but has always prided itself on completing a high percentage of the passes it does throw. That did not happen in 2014 as Reynolds connected on just 52 of 111 pass attempts (46.8 percent) while tossing three interceptions and just six touchdowns.

"Schematically, there are some things we're looking to do in order to be more efficient in the passing game," Niumatalolo said. "We need to get better in all areas – throwing, protecting and route-running."

Coaches felt the knee injury also affected Reynolds in the passing game as it was noticeable during the three-game losing streak that he was not planting his feet properly and was not getting as much power when pushing off. He completed just 3 of 14 passes in a 36-27 loss to Western Kentucky and only 6 of 14 during the 30-21 defeat at Air Force – tossing two interceptions while overthrowing several wide-open receivers on plays that would have gone for long gains, if not touchdowns, in those two games.

"We have to get better at throwing the football. Again, if we do that we win more games last year," Jasper said.

Jasper said it's his responsibility as play-caller to be more creative in finding ways for Navy to be more successful in the passing game. The Mids need to stay out of obvious passing situations that allow opposing defenses to blitz or otherwise tee off on the quarterback.

"To me, it's about not waiting until third down to throw the football. We have to be able to throw the ball on first down," Jasper said. "And we can't be afraid to get into second-and-10 because we throw an incompletion. You have to find way to come back on second down and get yourself into third-and-five or less."

Jasper and Niumatalolo agree a more potent passing attack will keep opponents off-balance and make the triple-option ground game even more dangerous.

"We need to be more diverse on first down and give teams a lot more to think about," Jasper said. "It's a fact that we've got to be able to throw the football more effectively in order to get to that next level. It's all about being able to throw and catch when necessary to keep the sticks moving."

Navy has always played a bend-but-don't break style of defense under veteran coordinator Buddy Green. The Midshipmen employ a 3-4 scheme that emphasizes not giving up the big play and forcing teams to run a high number of plays in order to march the length of the field. It is a strategy based on the premise an offense will commit a penalty, turnover or some type of negative play that stalls the drive.

There have been many years when Navy succeeded in limiting opponents to a significant number of field goals, but last year the defense broke more than it bent and gave up too many touchdowns. That is why Niumatalolo believes the Mids need to do more in certain situations to force the action.

"We don't want to get out of character, but we want to be more aggressive and attack more," he said. "We just have to be smart about it. A lot of it involves changing our mentality."

A big reason why Navy ranked 88th nationally in turnover margin was because its defense didn't force many. The Mids came up with 18 defensive takeaways (13 interceptions, five fumbles) to rank 85th in that category.

"We need to do a better job of getting off the field on third down. It's that simple," Green said. "We have to get more of a pass rush on quarterbacks and find a way to make plays on third down."